Two Halfs Equal One?
by Seguh
Summary: What would happen if Akane left with the Genma Soatome and his son Ranma on the training journey which shaped the Ranma's future as a martial artist.. Read and find out.
1. Tendo's Request

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ and I do not ask for any money when I write this. This is for my own and others enjoyment.

Inside the Tendo Dojo there was a tall skinny man and a large balding man sitting hunched over an old shogi board while drinking warm sake out of the bottle. The tall skinny man brought a bottle of sake with his shaky hands to his lips and nearly spilt his drink all over himself. This man's name is Tendo Soun and his large companion is Saotome Genma.

Soun looks to be on the verge of tears when at last he could not hold in his grief and he broke down into crocodile tears. He pauses in between crying to say, "Saotome my friend. We have known each other for a long time. We have survived the master's wrath many times over. But now I have a dilemma." As he finished saying this he broke down into another crying fit.

The large balding man shudders at the mere mention of the his old master, while putting his hand on his friend's shoulder to try to comfort his grief stricken friend. "It's ok Tendo-san. What ever this dilemma is, I will do my best to help you."

This brings Soun out of his crying fit long enough for him to say, "Thank you Saotome." He took in a deep breath before continuing, "It has already been a month since my dearest wife has passed away, and I have already noticed the effect on my daughters. Kasumi, my oldest has taken it upon her to take responsibilities of the household duties. While, Nabiki, my middle child had locked herself in her room. She only comes down for meals and school. 

"But worst of all, is my youngest, Akane. Ever since her mother has passed away, she has been training in the martial arts with great vigor. I would love to train her more in my style," he took a deep shuddering breath, "but I don't have the heart for it anymore."

"That's not true. You still have the heart for it no matter what has happened." Genma said in as strong, but reassuring way.

Soun shakes his head and begins to ball once again. While Soun is occupied, Genma decides that the game of shogi was not going in his favor so he swipes a few of Souns pieces and replaces them with his own. After patting himself on the back Genma tried to calm his old training buddy's emotional storm.

"It's ok Tendo-san. I will help you out with anything."

"Anything?" Soun questions.

"Anything." Genma replies.

Soun's mood changes from depressing sadness, to estatic happiness. "I have heard that you are going to go on a training journey with your son. Is that true?"

Genma hesitates for a second, for he knew Soun to be an emotional person, but he has never seen his friend this emotional. "Yes… yes I am."

"Good. I want you to take my youngest daughter, Akane, on this training journey." Genma started to protest but Soun put up his hand and continues, "You said you would do anything for me."

"But I can't train her. She's a girl, and I don't know how to train a girl."

"It's not that hard. It's just like training a boy."

"Alright, alright. I will train her in the basic, but you have to train her in the Tendo school when we return." Genma relented.

"Good. Then it's all settled. But promise me. Promise me that you will train her to be a lady, and not just a good martial artist."

"Uh… I will try. Tendo-san." 

A/N: This is my first fanfic and I know that this part is short. More will be up at a later time. Reviews are accepted and flames will only trigger my sprinkler set to turn on and be put out.

A/N Update 5-15: I just fixed a few spelling errors. Also Kasume is now Kasumi, Thanks Rabid Badger.

Seguh. 


	2. The Agreement That Would Not Be Headed

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or its characters. I am just an aspiring writer who is into the Ranma universe. I do not mean to insult anyone with my writing. Also I do not make any money off of this story so please don't go through the trouble of sueing me. Thanks.

A/N: Hello. Sorry it took me a while to update my fic. I was realy busy with work and my Internet connection was not working at the time. I would like to Thank Rabid Badger for his review and I hope that many more will be coming my way. Also I have changed the rating of the story to Teen because of the language that the characters would be soon, but not now, saying. Well on to the story.

A young Kasumi awoke an hour before the sunrise. She quickly rolls out of bed to change into her work clothes. She dons a simple yellow dress with a cute little white apron over it. Kasumi pauses to comb her long brown hair, until it is tangle free. After placing the comb back onto her desk she looks into the mirror with a happy girlish smile. With said smile in place Kasumi exits her room and heads for the kitchen.

Just as Kasumi begins to make breakfest for the family a young Nabiki is sitting at her desk going over the bills for the household. She sorts them into two piles, one pile is the "needs to be payed right away," and the other one is, "can wait a while." Nabiki sighs and mumbles, "I am to young for this," as the "needs to be payed right away" pile keeps getting bigger and bigger, until she gives up and decides to get dressed for the day.

The scent of food slowly makes its way to Akane's room. The smell of Kasumi's cooking was enough incentive to get Akane out of bed. She slowly rises to her feet and, with great grogginess, makes her way over to her dresser. She slides the top dresser door open and pulls out the clothes that is going to wear for the day. After getting dressed she reaches her hand inside the pocket of her dress and retrieves a recent picture of her mother. 

As she stares at the photo, tears begin to well up in her eyes and then fall onto the picture. After many more tears strike the photo she takes in a deep breath and wipes the tears from her eyes and her most prized possession. After all, her mother would want her to be a strong girl, and strong girls do not cry, often…

A knock at the door snaps her out of her self-reprimand and she quickly stashes the photo back into her pocket before yelling out, "Come in."

Soun stood on the other side of the doorway waiting for an answer to his knock. As soon as he heard her shout for him to come in he took a deep breath and opened the door.

"Good mourning Akane."

"Mourning Daddy." Akane replies while wondering why her father decided to make a visit.

"Akane, I have not been a good sensei to you, have I?" Soun askes in a very shaky voice, as if he was about to break down crying.

"Yes you have daddy." Says Akane, trying to comfort her emotional wreck of a father.

"No my little Akane. I have been to busy dwelling in self pity for so long that your training has been nearly forgotten."

"But I am learning so much from you. I learned how to break a wooden board with my bare hands," she raises up her arm and brings her hand down onto her other hand as if she was mimicking breaking a wooden board. "If I did that to a board it would have broke in half, daddy."

Soun's chest swells with pride for a second before changing to one of deep regret. "Akane, breaking boards is not all the Art is about. There is discipline and other things that I cannot teach you at the moment. No ever."

"But daddy, does this mean that you do not want to be my sensei anymore?" The six year old asks her father.

"No, I would love to be your teacher for the rest of eternity, but sadly I cannot teach until I have learned to control my emotions better."

"I understand daddy, I think."

"Good. I have found a new teacher for you. He is a training partner that I had when I trained under the master," Soun shudders at the mere thought of his training before continuing, "His name is Saotome Genma, and he is going on a ten year training journey with his son Ranma. He has agreed to take you with him and traning you in the Anything Goes Ryu."

"But daddy, I do not want to go away." Cries a young girl.

"It is for your good, and the good of the school, so pack your traning clothes and be ready by breakfast." Soun says with a stern voice before retreating out of the room and down stairs.

It was quiet during breakfast, since no one talked. Soun was using all his mental strength not to break down in tears. Akane was fuming as she kneels at the table. Nabiki was to busy thinking of different ways to make money with out actually working, since she was way under age. Kasumi just kneels right there just smiling her warm smile while wondering why everyone was so quiet.

Kasumi preyed for something to happen that would break the silence. She did not have to wait for long. A loud knock reverberated from the front gate and into the house. Kasumi excused herself from the table and made her way to the front door. I hope it is not a salesman at the gate, she thought to herself.

Right as Kasumi stood up to go great the guests, Soun is hit with a tsunami-sized fit of emotions, so he to excuses himself from the table and heads for his room. This just made Akane even madder that she stood up and marched toward the furo.

Nabiki was the only one left at the table, which she did not seem to notice. She just sat there deep in thought going over different ways to make enough money to pay the bills. Nabiki lays her head on the table not to gently with a loud thunk and sighs.

At the front gate Kasumi opens it to reveal a rather large balding man in a white GI and a large backpack strapped behind him. A small boy wearing his own white GI and a small backpack and a woman in a very traditional kimono carrying a silk package accompanies the large man. These people are not salesmen, Kasumi thinks to herself.

"Greetings, and welcome to the Tendo residents. I am Tendo Kasumi." Kasumi politely greets the trio with a bow.

"Well she sure is polite. Is this the girl who will be acompaning my son on his training journey?" The woman in the kimono asked the balding man.

"I don't know No-chan. Soun and I just talked for the first time last night and the girls were not awake." Genma tried to explain.

"Mommy." The small boy tugs at his mother's sleeve. "Mommy, I gots ta go to the potty."

"In a minute darling." The woman referred as No-chan replies to her son, then looks up at Kasumi bows, then says, "My name is Saotome Nodoka, this man is my husband, Saotome Genma, and this is my son, Saotome Ranma. We are here to see your Father."

Kasumi nods and turns around to lead the Saotome trio into her home. On the way to the house Nodoka admires the beautiful landscape, while Genma admires the smell of the food coming from the house and Ranma keeps pace behind his mother while shyly stare at the older girl in front of the group.

This was the first time he has seen an older girl this close up. Whenever his mother took him to the park he would only play around boys his own age. Though sometimes he would even play with a girl, but that was rare and only for a short period of time. 

The Saotome trio, and their guide, finally enters the house. Kasumi shows her guests to a seat in the tearoom and then makes her way to her father's room. As the Saotomes sit in the tearoom they notice another Tendo sibling with her head flat onto the table.

Nodoka looks at her with a displeasing eye as she stares at Nabiki. "Is this the girl that is going to go on he training trip with my son Ranma?" Genma just shrugged in reply to his wife's question. 

All the while Ranma's little urge to use the bathroom rose in intensity so he decided to go explore and find the bathroom. Ranma's absence is not noticed as his mother and father examine the short haired girl.

Ranma enters the kitchen for a brief moment before leaving, as that was not the bathroom. After a few minutes of searching Ranma finally makes it to the changing room. He ignores the sign that says that it was occupied since he could barely read and that word was not one of the words he could read as of yet.

Akane was finishing up with her bath just as Ranma entered. Akane looked up at Ranma and Ranma looked back at a naked Akane. Akane's rage surged from being angry to down right pissed. She raps the her towel around her and screams out, "You pervert!"

Ranma is shaken out of his confused stare as Akane charged at him with a fist heading for his head. Even though Ranma has yet to go on his training journey, he has been training with his father and is quite good for a beginner. Ranma ducked under Akane's punch and darted out of the furo with an angry Akane right on his heals, all the while yelling out, "Wha'd I do?"

As Ranma bolted into the tearoom Soun and Kasumi was already there talking with his mother and father. He quickly ran and hid behind his mother, which Genma looks on with disapproval. Genma knew that if Ranma was going to be training with him he would have to be untaught those weak traits.

Akane, still in a towel, marches up to her father and says, "That pervert walked in on me."

Nodoka's eyes lit up with joy and grabbed hold of her son saying, "Oh my son is so manly."

"Is it true boy?" Soun asks.

"Is wha' true?" Ranma asked back.

"Did you walk in on my daughter while she was bathing?"

"Nope." He says with confidently. "She was done by the time I walked in."

Everyone facefalted except Ranma and the, by now, an unconscious Nabiki.

Genma shakes his sore head and says, "Is this girl the one who is coming on the trip?"

Soun nods and says, "Yes. This is my youngest, Akane. Akane, this is the Saotomes, who are going to be taking you on the training journey." He points to Genma and continues, "This is Saotome Genma," then he points to Nodoka and said, "This is Nodoka, though she is not going to go on the trip with you." He then points at Ranma and finishes, "And you have already met your training partner, Ranma."

Akane bows in respect and the Saotomes bow in return. Akane then quietly dismisses herself in order to get some clothes on herself.

"Now Kasumi go show Ranma around the dojo while us adults have a chat." Soun orders his oldest daughter.

"Yes daddy." Kasumi then takes Ranma by the hand and heads for the dojo.

"But I still gotta go potty." Ranma says as he is dragged off.

When Ranma is out of earshot Nodoka turns to Soun and says, "Now on to business." She then pulls out a piece if paper and shows it to Soun. "My husband and son have already agreed to this arrangement." 

Soun turns pale white as he reads the terms of the condition. "But Nokoka, why does Ranma have to commit seppuku?"

"It is just more incentive to make him a man-among-men. Now that your daughter is going on this trip I am here to make a contract between you and my husband."

Soun waves his hand and says, "I do not need a contract. I have full faith in Genma."

Genma releases a deep sigh of relief making Nodoka look at him with concern. He just shrugs and looks away.

"We need to make a contract in order for your daughter to go on this journey." Nodoka states.

"Fine. How about this, If Genma does not teach my daughter how to be a proper Japanese woman, Genma will be forced to commit seppuku."

Genma stiffened and looked at Soun with a concerned eye. Soun just looked at the floor, not wanting to meet his friend's eyes.

"Good. Now I need some time to write out the contract."

"Right. Genma, why don't we go to the dojo and see what your son is doing." Soun stands and heads for the dojo followed by a reluctant Genma.

Inside the dojo Ranma is showing off a simple kata to Kasumi. Ranma punched, blocked, and kicked in a pattern as he danced across the dojo. Kasumi watched with a polite smile saying nothing as Ranma moved faster and faster in his kata.

Just outside the dojo a very nervous Genma stands next to Soun as they watch Ranma go about his kata. With the end of Ranma's kata Soun turns and puts his hand on Genma's shoulder and says, "Genma, I just want you to know that I would never make you commit seppuku."

"But the contract." Genma nervously looks around as if Nodoka was just around the corner.

"I don't care about the contract. I just agreed to it so my Akane could go on the training journey. Also I have to up most confidence in you." Soun confidently states.

"Thanks my friend."

"No thank you." Soun's emotions finally break through his shaky mental barrier and he begins to cry profusely.

Genma puts his hand on Souns shoulder trying to confort him.

A/N: Well this chapter is longer then my prolog. I hope you have enjoyed my little story and come back soon. I'll try to update it whenever I get that writing feeling and I am not at my job. 

A/N Update 5-15: I fixed some spelling errors so reading is a little easyer. I think...

Peace, Seguh. 


	3. Kimono Days

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or its characters. I am just an aspiring writer who is into the Ranma universe. I do not mean to insult anyone with my writing. Also I do not make any money off of this story so please don't go through the trouble of sueing me. Thanks.

A/N: Sorry it has takin this long to update. I have been quite busy, and I have just recently moved from Ohio to Colorado. I hope you have enjoyed my story and please review.

Outside the Tendo Dojo a nineteen year old Kasumi swept the walkway that led into the dojo. She hums an old song that her mother sang to her when she was a child. Kasumi soon finds herself outside the dojo's door. A loud hiya booms from the Dojo and a sound of bricks being shattered follows. Kasumi couldn't help but smile. After Akane left with the Saotomes, her father upped his training and soon after much counseling, he soon open his Dojo for younger students to be trained in the Tendo School of Martial Arts.

Though he did not train them in any of the secret techniques, he did teach them how to defend themselves if they ever got into a fight. He also taught them how to avoid fighting, and only fight if you can not avoid conflict. Soon his students mastered the basics and left the school stronger and faster.

Inside the Dojo Tendo Soun stands in front of a group of adolescent students, showing them how to break bricks with out damaging their hands. Soun used this as to show how strong they are going be when they are ready to leave his dojo. The students listened with great intensity while answering Souns questions with, "Yes Sensi."

Kasumi idly watches the students practice a simple kata. One of the students, a boy named Daisuke, seems to be having trouble with his form and trips, nearly hitting the floor, when Hiroshi grabs his arm and pulls him back to his feet.

"I told you. Don't stand like that, or you're going to fall on your face." Hiroshi stated.

"I tried and tried, but I can't seem to get it right." Daisuke seemed to get a little depressed at his clumsiness.

Soun notices the two and hurries off to go help them. Kasumi would have watched longer except the bell on the gate rang. She hurries over to the gate and opens it to reveal a short skinny man in a postman's uniform holding a sack of what Kasumi knew was the mail.

"Good day Tendo Kasumi," The postman bows in respect and continues, "I have some mail here for you and your dad."

For me? Kasumi thought. She never got mail unless it was a love letter from that younger man, Kuno. The postman hands over the mail and bows as he leaves, heading for the next house.

Kasumi quickly looks over the mail, hoping that Kuno did not write her another stupid poem. The letter is not from Kuno. It was stamped with a Chinese stamp and there is no return address, just a name, Tendo Akane. Kasumi's heart skipped a beat as she stared at her little sister's name. It has been many years since she last heard from her little Akane-Chan.

She enters the house and as a habit she closes the door behind her. As she makes her way to the Tearoom she makes herself look at the other mail. Some of the letters are bills and the others are applications for training in the Tendo Dojo. She looked at a postcard with a rather large panda eating a bamboo pole, and curious enough it has a stamp from China.

Kasumi begins to turn over the postcard to read the writing, but then stops at the last second. It would have been rude to read her father's mail, so she just places every letter for Soun onto the table and quietly makes her way into the kitchen. Kasumi lays her letter down and begins to prepare dinner for the family.

Inside the Training Hall, Soun dismisses his class and makes his way to the furo. He cringes as he dumps the bucket of cold water over his head. After recovering from the shock he begins to wash himself. After dumping another bucket of water to rinse himself he slides down into the hot water of the furo. Sighing, he sinks deeper into the water and relaxes.

Unknown to Soun, a camera was placed over the furo. It has wires that wound it across the walls of the furo and made its way into the room of Tendo Nabiki. Nabiki stares through the camera, using a video screen, waiting for the perfect shot before snapping the shutter closed and taking a revealing but modest picture of her father.

Nabiki knew that she was doing something wrong but she keeps on telling herself that it was all for the money. After she develops the pictures she then sells them to the female students of Soun's Martial Arts class. She could pocket at least five thousand yen for each picture.

A movement in Nabiki's other camera catches her attention. It is Kasumi in the kitchen with the knife, Nabiki kidded with herself. It is Kasumi in the kitchen, and she does have a knife, but she isn't a character in the American game called Clue. Kasumi is making the days dinner, cutting up some vegetables. Nabiki wonders what her sister is making then she sees the prawn and knows that it is tempura. One of her favorite dish.

Nabiki, with her camera, takes a few pictures of Kasumi while cooking. Though these are not seductive pictures she knows that the idiot, Kuno Tatewaki, will buy them for twice the price she would get from her father's pictures.

On the other side of Nerima a rather large group of people are walking towards the Tendo Dojo. The leader of the group, or so he claims, is an older man with a bandanna tied to his head and a large campers backpack strapped to his back. He leads the group with great strides. He has been excited about meeting his old friend for a long time.

A teenaged boy easily keeps up with the older man. The teenager has unruly black hair tied in a pigtail and is swinging back and forth as he walks. He is dressed in a black kung fu style clothing with a chinese button down shirt and a rope that holds his pants up. By his side is a girl with short blueish black hair. She is dressed like the boy except that the color of her clothing was blue. The girl has a figure to die for. He chest is large, but not overly large and her hips were medium sized. Though if you commit on how big they are, expect to be beaten unconscious.

Trailing behind the three is a Okonomiyaki cart being pulled by another teenaged boy with a yellow headband with black spots tied to his forehead. He is dressed in a loose gold tunic and black pants. He shoulders a large backpack with a red umbrella on top. He pulls the Okonomiyaki cart with ease and he keeps up the pace with the three in front of him.

Sitting on the cart is a pretty teenaged girl with long brown hair tied with a white bow. She is dressed in a simple blue tunic with black pants. Laying on her lap is a large metal spatula known as a baker's peel. Her eyes sometimes lingers on the boy who pulls the cart. He occasionally looks back at her with a smile, making her blush.

The balding man in the lead suddenly stops in front of a clothing store. The two behind him skids to a stop just inches away from running into the older man.

"Wha'd ya do that for?" Screamed the boy.

"Quit boy. I'm thinking." came the reply from the bald man.

The boy pulling the Okonomiyaki cart is too busy looking at the girl on the cart to notice that the group in front of him stop. By the time he averted his head in front of him, he was two inches away from them, running them over with the cart, though he missed the older man.

"Ouch." The two moan in stereo.

"Sorry." the boy apologizes as he stopped.

After getting back to their feet they looked at the man with the bandanna. He was staring at a piece of paper in his hands.

"Whats that?" The girl asks.

Startled he quickly put the paper away. "It's nothing." he pauses then says, "Akane, forgive me."

Akane looks at him in confusion then says, "What is it Genma?"

"Yeah, what's Akane gota forgive you any way?" The pigtailed boy asks.

"Quiet Ranma." Genma then takes Akane's hand in his and drags her into the clothing store.

A confused Ranma could just look on with a puzzling look. He begins to wonder if he should go in after them, but then decides to wait it out. The boy with the cart walked over to Ranma's side and gave him a 'what is happining?' look, for which Ranma just shrugs.

The girl let herself down from the cart, briskly walks over to the two, and asks "Anyone know what is going on?"

"We sure don't Ukyo." Ranma replies.

"I better go in..." Ukyo stopped as a loud crash emanated from the clothing store.

The crash is soon followed by a yell. It is Akane yelling at Genma, "No way am I going to put on that tacky looking clothes. What do you mean its for my own good? No I will not where that one either. Why do I have wear a kimono? Come near me and I will kick your ass." After a long pause Akane finally shouts, "Fine but I get to pick which one I will wear. Now get the hell out of the dressing room!"

Another loud crash is heard and Genma appears in the door's exit.

"What was that all about?" The headband boy asked.

"It's nothin' Ryoga." was all Genma said.

After a few minutes Akane appears at the door of the shop wearing a blue kimono with a black dragon wrapping itself around the dress. Ranma's heart begins to quicken as he stares at the girl. He wonders why this is happing to him. He averts his eyes away from Akane to hide his blush.

"How do I look?" Akane nervously asks the group.

"You look good sugah." Ukyo answers.

"I think so to." Ryoga agrees

"You still look like a tomboy." came Ranma's reply.

Akane glared at him and then stalked toward her past home. "Come on guys. I want to see my family."

It took them longer to reach the Dojo, because Akane couldn't move very fast in her kimono. As they stand by the front gate they pause before entering the Tendo's yard. The could not get the Okonomiyaki cart through the gate, so Ryoga lifts it and places it over the gate.

The smell of cooking food wafts from the building in front of them. Genma's stomach growled in anticipation. They made there way up to the front door and Akane knocked.

Inside the house Kasumi finishes with the family's dinner and is about to put it onto the table when a knock came from front door. She quickly sets down the food and walks to the door and opens it to reveal the large group.

"Hello. May I help you?" Kasumi asks politly.

"Hello, is Kasumi here?" Akane asks in return.

"I am Kasumi. How can I help you?"

"Big sis!" Akane yells and hugs Kasumi.

"Oh my." was all Kasumi said before fainting in Akane's arms.

A/N: Well this is the end to the chapter. I will go in some detail of the training trip in the next chapter. Flames will be used to cook my meal and reviews will be gladly accepted.

Peace, Seguh.


	4. Story of the Past

Disclaimer: I do not own Ranma ½ or its characters. I am just an aspiring writer who is into the Ranma universe. I do not mean to insult anyone with my writing. Also I do not make any money off of this story so please don't go through the trouble of sueing me. Thanks

A/N: An inspiration of writing hit me and I could not stay away from the fanfic. I hope you enjoy reading it as much as I enjoy writing it. Reviews are welcomed and flames just get my blood boiling.

Tendo Soun Towels himself off in the changing room. The bath did wonders to relieve stress and tension from his aching back. He ceremoniously put on his brown gi. Now dressed he makes his way into the kitchen. The smell of Kasumi's tempura puts a smile on his face. As he enters the kitchen he notices that the tempura is still in the kitchen yet Kasumi is not there. He shrugs and takes the tempura in his hands and walks over to the tearoom.

After setting the food down on the table he returns to the kitchen and fills three glasses full of cold water. On the way to the table he hears Kasumi cry out, "Oh my." A curious Soun, still holding the trays of water, makes his way over to the front door.

Soun can not believe his eyes when he sees a girl holding an unconscious Kasumi. Rage fills his eyes as he charges the girl while yelling out, "How dare you hurt my daughter!."

The girl holding Kasumi, also known as Akane, looks at the charging Soun, and then she hands Kasumi over to Ranma and then cries out, "Daddy." Which stops Mr. Tendo in his tracks.

"A... Akane?" he asks confused. Though Soun has stopped the drinks in his hands keep one going, spilling their contents all over Akane and company.

It is well known in the Ranma universe that a water curse effects some of the cast. Once water is applied, cold water, the curses activate and change the person who was splashed into their cursed body. Akane when hit with cold water changes from a cute girl, to a handsome boy. Ranma changes from a handsome boy, to a very pretty girl. Ryoga, who was unlucky enough to be standing in the way of the water turns into a cute little black piglet. And Ukyo, another unlucky one to be hit with water, changes into a golden retriever.

Genma sighs with glee, as he was lucky enough to be standing behind the cursed teenagers, and was not hit with any water. His happiness wore off when Ukyo, the dog, shook most of the water off her fur, drenching Genma with hair and cold water.

"Grrrf." Genma says, which translates to, 'why me?' as now he is a rather large panda.

Soun looks on at the cursed teenagers, and then his eyes linger on Akane-kun, who puts her hand on the back of her head, in a sheepish way. Soun's eyes roll up his sockets and he then crashes to the hard floor. Akane-kun ran over to his father, feeling terrible that he was the cause of two of his family member to faint dead to the ground.

Ranma-chan struggled under Kasumi's weight, now that he was a girl, her strength decreased, and she had a hard time dragging the taller woman back into the house. The cursed martial artists enters the house, while Genma hefts Ryoga and Ukyo's clothes and luggage, with his large panda claws, and brings them into the house.

"So what now?" Ranma-chan asks in a soprano voice.

"We should get them a pillow." Akane-kun decides. "I think I remember where they are at," she adds.

At this time Nabiki decides to enter from upstairs. She pauses as she sees her father and sister unconscious and the group of weirdos around them. "What the hell is going on?"

Akane-kun put up his hands as if she was warding and attack. "I can explain. I just need some hot water."

Nabiki sceptically looks at them. Then she shrugs and calmly walks into the kitchen and puts on a tea kettle. She acted as if nothing fazed her, yet she was reeling on the inside. Who were those two people? Why are they here and why did they bring there pets? And Who has a pet panda? Those where some of the questions circling in her head. She barely noticed the whistle of the tea kettle, signaling that the water was hot.

Nabiki brings the heated water to the two with the three pets and hands it over to the boy. "Now tell me what is going on, or I will call the police." Nabiki threatened.

"Please don't faint on me," He pauses to pour the water over himself and then continues, "big sis." and Akane-kun transformed into Akane-chan.

And as if to break the moment, Akane starts to dance around yelling, "Oh so hot! Too hot"

Nabiki couldn't believe her eyes. A boy just transformed into a girl right before her eyes, and not only that, she seemed to remember the girl, as if from a distant dream. "Akane? Is that you?"

After cooling off, Akane nodded with a smile. Tears welled up in her eyes as she rushed to hug her older sister. Nabiki awkwardly pads her little sister on the back, not knowing what else to do.

"How?" Nabiki asks.

"It's a long story. I want to wait till daddy and Kasumi awake." Akane explained.

While Akane and Nabiki talked, Ranma-chan pours some water onto herself, changing back into a boy. He then takes Ukyo into the changing room, after a little while of searching, and pours some of the hot water onto her, and then he closed the door, leaving her clothes in with her.

"Ah, Its good to be human once again." Says Ukyo as she left the changing room, fully dressed.

Ranma then repeats the process with Ryoga. After Ryoga changes back to human, Genma grabs the kettle and pours the hot water onto himself.

"Boy this water is too hot. You should be shamed for letting such hot water scold your father." Genma complains.

"Maybe I should have left you as a panda. Huh?" Ranma retorts.

It took many minutes before Kasumi was revived, and even longer for Soun to awake from his fainting spell. When Kasumi was able to stand on her own feet once again she gave her little sister a quick hug and then hurries off to the kitchen to prepare more meals for the new guests. As she enters the kitchen she notices the envelope that was forgotten. As she studies it closer she also notices that it seemed to be bulging, as if filled with much writing, and though curious as she was, she decides to read it later.

The smell of home made cooking wafts from the kitchen, making Ranma's stomach growl with anticipation.

"Ranma!" Akane scorns him.

"What? Can't a guy show that he's hungry?" Ranma asked.

"N..." What Akane was about to say did not matter as all five of the travelers stomachs gave a great growl in stereo, making Akane blush a deep crimson.

"Well never mind!" Akane yelled in defeat. Then her mood brightens and she happily says, "I'll go help her." And off she went towards the kitchen.

"No!"Yells Ranma.

"No you don't, sugar." Ukyo ordered.

"Woe is me. My food shall surely be poisoned." Cried Genma.

"Yum. I sure love Akane's cookin'." Came Ryoga's reply.

Ranma, Genma, and Ukyo all fell face first into the wooden floor, making a loud thumping sound.

Ranma was the first to recover and told Ryoga, "Man you have the stomach of a garbage disposal."

"Well at least I don't eat like one, unlike you." Ryoga shot back.

Nabiki stood there content to watch the whole scene take place. She wonders why they think that Akane could poison them with food. You could tell that Nabiki lives a sheltered life when it came to food. Breakfast, lunch, and dinner, was always made with all of Kasumi's loving care. She never once had to stomach food that would ever have made her queasy, or made her feel that she was being poisoned.

You could tell that she never tried to eat Akane's cooking. Ranma could not believe what foods Akane could destroy with limited ingredients. One of the times Akane had decided to cook for Genma and Ranma was when they first started their long journey. Akane had decided to cook some rice. She knew how to do that alright, but when she decided that they needed more protean in the rice, she found some pinecones and added it to the batch. As if that wasn't enough she found some wild mushrooms under a rock and to added it to the mixture. When Ranma and Genma eagerly dug in to the rice, Ranma began to choke on a pinecone and Genma turned purple from eating one of the wild mushrooms, which they learned later on that they were a very poisonous type of fungus. They both lived through her cooking and they learned a valuable lessen with Akane's Cooking, Never Ever Eat That, or NEET for short.

Akane almost made it to the kitchen when Genma and Ukyo is found blocking the door way. Akane's anger rose to unsteady heights and she bulldozed through the defenders of the kitchen with uneasyness because of the kimono.

Inside the kitchen Kasumi is busy putting on the finishing touches of the extra tempura. Akane took a moment to compose herself before asking sweetly if she could help with cooking dinner.

"No. You have just returned home from a long journey. It would be rude of me if I had you cooking at the moment." Kasumi explained, then continued, "Besides I am almost finished. Maybe tomorrow."

"Er no. Kasumi dear. I think it may take a while before Akane is allowed, I mean should cook." Genma says in his most diplomatic voice, all the while praying that Akane would never cook, for him at least.

"Alright." Kasumi put on her most innocent smiles and went back to cooking.

Right at that moment Soun bolts from his unconscious stupor, and quickly took in his surroundings. There is a young man with a yellow headband watching over him, and a girl with a white bow laying on the ground with a dazed look in her eyes. Another young man stood a few feet away from him and he had a pigtail style hair. Nabiki was a few feet from the pigtailed boy and she looked quite amused.

"Who are all these people, and what are they doing in my house?" Demands Soun.

"I have no Idea who all there names, but Akane is in the kitchen." Nabiki chimes in.

"Akane?" Soun ask bewildered, then jumped to his feat and ran to the kitchen yelling, "My baby is back!"

Akane turned around and gave a charming smile as Soun ran and gave her a back breaking hug. Soun also begins to wail, crying that he missed her so much and would never let her leave his sights again.

Akane did her best to try and soothe her emotional father with, "Its ok daddy. I missed you to daddy. Don't cry daddy. Daddy your crushing me!" She yelled out and Soun released her.

He took a moment to study his daughter. She is a little shorter then Nabiki and her short hair is curled, almost spiky. She is very muscular without all the bulk, and she also is very skinny, as if she had not eaten a good meal in awhile. She also looked very lady like in the kimono, which she moved as if this was her first tine in the dress.

Kasumi took this awkward silence as a cue to yell out, "Dinners ready."

There was a whooshing sound as Genma and Ranma appears at the table in an instant. Soun took one look at his training buddy noticing that he seemed a lot balder then before. Soun rushes over to Genma and they both gave each other a hug, though Genma's eyes the food behind Soun's back.

"I've missed you Genma." Soun exclaims.

"As have I." Genma replies.

Kasumi carefully balances the food in her hands as she makes her way to table and set the food on the table with out spilling a sing drop of food. Ranma, Genma, and Akane all looked at the food with hungry eyes. But they waited for everyone sit sit down before calmly taking their portions on tempura from the dish and into there bowls. After everyone's bowls where filled with food everyone began to eat slowly and with much grace. This of coarse was there first meal with the Tendo family, excluding Akane of coarse, and they wanted to make a good first impression.

Ukyo tasted the food and found it very delicious, though no where near as good as hers, she told herself. She was amazed at how the Saotomes, and Akane, calmly ate their meal, she also wondered how long the truce last, before the real fun began.

Genma began to sweat as he looked over at his son's food. I can't let him get away with eating like that, Genma thought. His chopstick slowly made it's way to Ranma's food, Ranma seems oblivious to it all. Genma's greed got the better of him and his chopstick flew towards Ranma's food. Ranma at the last second blocked Genma's wooden utensils with his own, and held them in place, and no matter how hard Genma tried to pull back, Ranma would not let go. Then it hit Genma, this was a ploy. He quickly turned to his own food and found an empty bowl, and then he peaks at Akane's bowl and found that it was twice the amount of food in it.

Though Genma's chopsticks where held hostage, he smiles confidently and says, "Saotome secret eating maneuver, back up chopsticks!."

Genma pulls out anonther set of chopsticks, which then flies at Ranma's food. Ranma had to let go of Genma's other set of chopsticks to block his father's attack. Genma's chopsticks now free, he begins to attack both Ranma's food and Akane's food with both hands. Now the battle was on.

The Tendo's could only stare at the ferocious battle going on at the dinner table. Food went flying from one bowl to another, and then the same food was plucked from that bowl and put into another bowl. The process when on till no food was left. Though Ranma and Akane double teamed Genma in a battle for his food, Genma held his own.

"Oh my," Kasumi exclaims.

"Akane!" Soun says in shock.

"Now that was an interesting dinner." Nabiki smiles.

Now that Tendo's and the Okonomiyaki Crew(tm) are filled up with Kasumi's delicious cooking, Soun turns to Genma and asks, "Genma who are all these people?" he gestures to Ukyo and Ryoga.

"Well Soun my friend, these two are friends we met on the road." As Genma says this a loud clang comes from his head, and a rather large spatula rests on his head.

"Tell him the truth about me." Ukyo ordered him.

"Yeah pop. Tell him how you engaged me to Ukyo and almost left her behind." Ranma added his two yens.

"Engaged? How could you Saotome?" Soun bewilderedly asks.

"Its not my fault. We were starving and Mr. Kuonji said that if I engage my son with his daughter, he would give me the Okonomiyaki cart, so that we could feed our selfs." Genma explains.

"What happened with the money I sent you off with?" asks Soun.

"I uh, spent it."

"Spent it? How could you spend two hundred thousand yen?" Asks a bewildered Soun.

"Well half of it went to a nice home for Nochan, and the rest went to a nice training book." Genma mumbles the last part.

"What was this training book called?"

"The Nekoken." As Genma says this both Akane and Ranma shudder from the memory.

"I specifically told you to spend it on supplies for the journey." Soun is angry by now. He also felt a pang of guilt for letting his friend take his baby girl on a perilous journey.

"Sorry..." mumbles Genma.

"My poor girl suffered on this training journey of yours and all you can say is Sorry?" Soun is teetering on the edge of using his Demon Face.

"It's okay daddy." Akane says trying to clam her father.

"Careful Daddy. You don't want to have to up your visits to the psychologist, now do you?" Nabiki asks in a calm collective way.

Soun's anger dissipated in an instant. "I am sorry for being so emotional. It's just that I haven't seen my little girl in a long time, and I have missed my her."

Genma put a hand on Soun's shoulder and says "It is alright, I forgive you."

Soun's eye twitched a little at Genma's forgiveness, but then he relaxed in his chair as if nothing happened.

"So tell me Genma, why is the other boy following you?"

"I can answer that." Ryoga offers.

"Go ahead boy." Genma orders.

"It all started in middle grade school..."

_Flash back:_

Ryoga arrived at his school just in time to here the bell ring. All the students filled out of the school and gave him a look of amusement, then a girl stopped right in front of him. She was very cute, with her hair short and almost spiky. She was dressed in the schools uniform and had a book bag slung over one arm.

"Hi my name is Tendo Akane." She bowed.

"Hibiki Ryoga." Ryoga bowed.

"It is nice to meet you Ryoga."

"Same here Akane." Ryoga blushed. No girl has ever stopped to talk with him and he felt kind of shy.

"Why are you arriving at school late?" Akane asks.

Ryoga's blush deepened. "Well I kinda..."

He was cut off by two people who sauntered in. One was another girl with long hair and a pink bow in her hair. She to was dressed in the school uniform. The other one was a boy around his age. He had the school uniform's shirt slung over his shoulder, showing off a white muscle shirt.

"Hey Akane. I wondered where ya wondered off to." the boy show concern.

"Yeah sugar. Why did you leave us?" asked the girl.

"Guys I would like you to meet Hibiki Ryoga." Akane introduced him, "Ryoga, this is Saotome Ranma, and this is Kuonji Ukyo."

The all bowed in greeting. Then Akane stated, "You were going to tell me why you were late."

"Well, uh, It's because," Ryoga felt as if he did not know how to explain. "I get l... lost and I can not find my w... way."

"How lost do ya get?" Ranma asked.

"I sometimes cannot find my way for days at a time. My mother and father are the same." Ryoga said shamefully.

"Wow that's tough sugar."

"Well where do you live?" Akane asked.

"I live a few blocks down south." He pointed north.

"Dude thats north your pointing." Ranma shook his head.

Ryoga just blushed.

"I know. How about Ranma takes you home and to school every day?"

"Hey why do I have ta do it?" Ranma asked.

"'Cause I said so."

"Alright. I'll do it if only he wants me ta do it." Said Ranma.

"Sure, I guess. If it will help me to more out of school then watching everyone leave." Ryoga agreed.

For the next few days everything went smoothly, Ranma took Ryoga to school and back and Ryoga's grades improved greatly. Then one day in the lunch cafeteria Ryoga was in line to get some bread. The lunch lady yelled out that this was the last bread and through it up over the crowd of young boys, since the girls were allowed to get there food first. Ryoga knew a lot about martial arts and he knew that he could he the bread if he just used a few of the boys as spring boards. He jumped into the air, bounded off one of the students head, and reached for the bread. His fingers nearly wrapped around his head when someone else's foot landed on his head and used him to reach the last bread.

It was Saotome Ranma. This made Ryoga mad and he wanted to take revenge. Every day this feud for the last bread took place, that is until Ryoga challenged Ranma to a duel in an empty lot behind his house. With no one to guide him to the empty lot it took Ryoga many days to find it. When he reached the lot Ranma was not there. He cursed Ranma's name and was about to go stalking off to find him when Ranma entered the lot.

Ranma Zipped up his pants and rinsed his hands off in the creek near the lot. Near the lot was an Okonomiyaki cart with the girl, Ukyo cooking up Okonomiyaki for quite a crowd. And Akane was busy watching over the prone form of a rather large balding man.

"See now I told you, ya shouldn't have tried to take us to China right at this moment. Ranma has a duel of honor with Ryoga." Akane chided the older man.

"So Ryoga. Want to get this over with?" Ranma asked.

All Ryoga could do was nod. He never really dueled anyone before, though he has been in many fights with the kids who teased him about his directional sense. He took in a deep breath and got in a defensive stance.

Ranma took up a loose stance and waited for Ryoga to make the first move, which he did. Ryoga charged in like a loose bull. He got in close with Ranma and threw a uppercut toward Ranma's face. Ranma leaned back and let the fist fly inches to his face. Ryoga growled and then tried a back hand punch to Ranma's, and once again Ranma barely dodged his fist.

Now Ranma took the cue and struck Ryoga with a left hook right in Ryoga's stomach, which barely fazed the boy like an ox. Ranm followed by a kick to the chest and a reverse kick to the head, both of which Ryoga shrugged off and leapt into action.

He kicked at Ranma's solar plexus which Ranma blocked, and was thrown back by the lost one's strength, Ryoga then followed up with a punch to Ranma's left shoulder an then he grabbed the other martial artest by the shoulders and kneed him in the stomach letting Ranma fall to the ground.

All the air was released from Ranma's stomach as his wind was knocked from him. Ranma rolled to the side, jumped to his feet, and gasped for air. Ranma realized that if he keeps on going like this, he would surely loose. Ranma changed his tactics, he ran at Ryoga and delivered a bone crushing punch to his face and followed up with uppercut to his chin.

Ryoga was launched in the air and landed five feet from where he once stood. He slowly got back to his feet, and wiped his mouth with his hands. Ryoga charged rage filled his eyes and threw a punch that would have cracked concrete.

Ranma ducked under his haymaker and slammed his fist into Ryoga's stomach, it felt like hitting a rock with his fist. Ryoga smile he knew that Ranma might do something like this so he wrapped his arms around Ranma and began to squeeze. It felt like Ranma was being hugged by a bear, a very strong and smothering bear. All Ranma could do was move his head, so he did the first thing that came to his head, use it.

Ranma slammed his head into Ryoga's head five times in a row until Ryoga released him. They staggered around the lot, shaking their head until the could see again. Ranma decided that he was going to finish off Ryoga in one last strike and, with fist raised in striking mode, he charged at Ryoga with all his might. Ryoga knew he had to finish this fight so he decided to give it one more punch and charged at Ranma, with fist held high in striking mode, with all his might.

The two martial artists met in the middle of the empty lot, fist slamming into each others faces, making a bone crunching sound. They stood there, with fists on faces, staring at each other, as if not wanting to pull away for fear of loosing touch on reality. For the longest time they did not move, until at last they both collapsed on each other, knocked out cold.

Akane and Ukyo ran to the two downed fighters. After checking if they were ok, they declared that this match was a tie. Akane scanned the empty lot, which by now was not so empty, as everyone began to clap and Ukyo made a quick retreat to her Okonomiyaki cart and began serving her pancake style pizza to customers. Some one tried to get away with out paying and was politely denied, with a large baker's peel slammed on his head.

After both Ranma and Ryoga were revived, Ryoga was impressed with Ranma's skill that he demanded to stay with him and go to China with him. Ranma tried to turn him down but Ryoga pleaded until Ranma decided that it would be nice to have another boy travailing with him.

_End Flashback._

"So that's how I ended up with Ranma's group." Ryoga explains.

"Interesting tale." Soun says.

"Oh my, how nice of Ranma." That was Kasumi of coarse.

Nabiki just stares at Ukyo and then calmly says, "Do you need a manager for your cart?" Nabiki can practically see yen signs instead of Ukyo.

Ukyo shake her head, "Not, right now. I have made it this far without needing one. Maybe if I expand I might need a manager." for which Nabiki sighs.

Kasume excuses herself from the table to go clean the dishes. After a while of silence Genma starts to feel a little thirsty. Soun notices and asks if Kasumi could bring a couple of ice cold water. Kasumi complies and brings out the water on a tray. Nabiki, acting devious, drops a shiny yen piece in front of Kasumi's path. Kasumi quickly bends down to pick up the yen, and accidentally spills the trays of water onto the guests.

"I am so sorry." Kasumi apologizes.

Ranma-chan sighs, Akane-kun sighs, a large panda sighs, a dog sighs, and a pig grunts in frustration. Soun starred wide eyed at them, Kasumi put her hand to her mouth, and Nabiki smiled to herself.

"Now would be a good time to explain your changes. Eh, little sis, or should I say little brother." Nabiki says deviously.

"Eh heh." Akane-kun says nervously.

The panda holds up a sign that said, "Do we have to?"

Soun begins to cry, "What happened to my little baby?"

End.

A/N: I kept all the curses, except Ukyo's curse, the same. In a latter chapters I will tell more of there training and how Ukyo was brought along with them. Soun still has emotional problems, but he can keep most of them in check. He also goes to a shrink once every week, but it seems that he might need to go more often now. Also this seems to be my longest chapter, Yay for me!. I will try to keep them this long or maybe longer, though I can not make any promises. Reviews are nice and will be accepted, even "Your story is great" or "Needs more work."

Peace, Seguh.


End file.
